Bush is a Liar, But "Intelligence" is an Illusion
The intelligence bombshell that came with the revised estimate of Iran's nuclear weapons program - oops, sorry, they seem to have given it up in 2003, so maybe World War III is not around the corner after all! - is another nail in a lying President's career coffin. But it is more than that.
It should remind us that "intelligence" is never hard, generally contested, rarely definitive and almost always politically slanted - or subject to political slanting, not just by politicians but by intelligence officers too. Many critics of Bush seem to think it is just about this President not understanding intelligence (too dumb) or not reporting it (too dishonest). But there is a problem with intelligence itself. It's always incomplete and biased; not just by those who use it for devious political purposes, but by those who collect, analyze and interpret it. "Professionally." It's an old, old story.
Sometimes the analysts don't see what is actually there. And sometimes they see what isn't there. All as consummate "professionals," and way before the politicians put the intelligence to their own manipulative uses.
Did you know there were a great many clues before December 7, 1941, that, in hindsight, disclosed that Pearl Harbor was to be the target of a surprise attack? Warships sighted, messages intercepted, miniature submarines captured? Yep. But, nope, such an attack was impossible! Attack Pearl Harbor? The Japanese? Who were in Washington negotiating? Never. So the clues were misread or went unread.
Some will remember the fabled "missile gap" which, as told by national intelligence reports, suggested that the Soviet Union in the late Fifties had opened up an enormous lead in missile production which put them far ahead in the cold war (delivering A-bombs not building them was the key to superiority!). The missile gap was later revealed to be something between a lie, a hoax and a misreading of data rooted in fear, but it was used to rationalize a major uptick in military spending and intensified an already toxic hostility to the Soviet Union.
Then there was the reported attack on American warships in Tonkin Bay that allowed President Johnson to push a war resolution through Congress in that other war of lies, Vietnam. The attack was made up, to be sure, but there were North Vietnamese vessels in the vicinity and they certainly could have attacked us!
Oh yes, and how about all those clues to what would eventually transpire on September 11, 2001 that were overlooked, misread or ignored the summer before because they didn't fit anyone's picture of what was likely. Foreigners on the watch list taking flying lessons, you say? Yeah, right, they're gonna fly airplanes into the World Trade Center! Explicit threats from Osama bin Laden? What a nutcase, huh?
So there it is, if we are looking for war, we manage to see WMD when they aren't there, and if we are not looking for it, we manage to ignore WMD that are there. This isn't just a lesson in deceit; it is a lesson in human frailty and the unreliable character of all "intelligence."
Which means prudent politicians should be as cautious in believing what their intelligence services tell them as citizens should be cautious in believing what their politicians tell them. Uncertainty is the human condition, and this fact mandates prudent judgment and skepticism at every turn, both about what supposedly is happening (it often isn't) and about what supposedly can't happen (it too often does).
So, for example, if I were looking for WMD likely to fall into the hands of terrorists, I wouldn't be looking in Iran or North Korea, I'd be looking in Pakistan - which has both the weapons and the terrorists in plentiful supply. But then you don't need an intelligence service to tell you that.
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Intelligence information is usually only contested when it doesn't fit the Bush Administration's agenda. Truth is rarely on their side, the blind faith voters usually are.
Intelligence is hard to assess but the Clinton administration was working overtime to protect us from Bin Laden but, just because of Bush's hatred for Clinton, (he ousted his Dad from office), he abandoned all efforts to track Bin Laden and focused on ending our treaties with the old Soviet Union and other nations because of an ideological agenda. That remains inexcusable.
This article shows the difference between data and information. Supposedly, a smart human can make sense out of the data so it becomes information. In the present situation, President Bush will not let any facts change his mind.
He has a mind like a trap, closed and never catching anything. Please, do not try and confuse him with facts. Anything that could change his view is meaningless data.
If he leaves office and were are not blown up by WW-III, we should ring all the bells in the country and give thanks to the Almighty.
I do not want to listen to him anymore and I wish he would just go.
I have frankly never understood this Administration's attempts to involve the U.S. in a ground and/or air war with Iran. Perhaps many would accuse me of being a little too "black and white", but my foreign policy approach would have consisted of a single statement:
"Any nation that is found to be responsible for the deployment of a nuclear weapon in an aggressive action that cannot be justified as as a defensive act against a human population anywhere will cease to exist within seven days after that judgement is made."
This Administration's approach, on the other hand, suggests that Iran has something that they covet.
This isn't just a lesson in deceit; it is lesson about Bush’s mental unfitness.
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Twenty-Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution established the procedures for the President to be removed from office if it is determined that "he is unable (mentally unfit) to discharge the powers and duties of his office."
Bush's mental unfitness to discharge the powers and duties of his office” has already been determined by many well-respected doctors.
Congress has a Constitutional duty to invoke the 25th Amendment, in view of Bush history.
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BUSH'S ILLEGAL WAR IN IRAQ HAS CAUSED THE DEATHS OF OVER ONE MILLION IRAQI CIVILIANS, FOUR THOUSAND AMERICAN SOLDIERS, AND 11,000 MORE FROM HIS USE OF DEPLETED URANIUM WMDS.
HOW MANY MORE MUST DIE BEFORE CONGRESS REMOVES HIM FROM OFFICE?
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It is imperative that this maniac be removed from the White House ASAP!
WAKE UP AMERICA!
You are calling Bush a liar. I woul like to point out that he never has lied to Israeli leaders, nor has he ever made a promise to Sharon or the current PM that he hasn't kept.
What we don't know is this: Has he promised either Israeli leader that we would storm the gates of nuclear facilities?
Eloquent and too true on all counts Tony. Thank you.
And too true too re Granma Nancy who appears to me to have now long ago crossed that not-so-fine-line of co-impeachable evil-doer simply by supporting the cabal rather than doing her non-option
Thanks again Tony!
The actions of Republicans are driven by OIL, not weapons of mass destruction. Republicans are fueled by oil and will never vote to go green. Just look at their recent rejection of the bill written by the Democrats regarding alternative energy.
All the war in the Middle East has always been about oil. 9-11 was about oil, not theology.
Remember Osama himself said he conceived the attack on 9-11 against America decades ago when we invaded Beirut to protect our oil interest. osama was angry we killed a lot of his brethren in Beirut.
After 9-11, Republicans were not happy that Saddam was sitting on the world's most lucrative oil and refused to play ball with them. Hence, Republicans charged into Iraq by convincing everyone there were weapons of mass destruction. Oops, we did it again, thus creating at least one thousand more Osama clones.
Last year, another evil dictator, Chavez, goes on TV and angers the Republican oil cartel by selling oil at a cheaper rate to Americans in the northeast. Two days later, Bush is on TV demonizing Chavez.
Then this year, the bad Iranian president threatens to stop the supplies of oil to America and again, the Republicans keep beating the war drum, even though they know Iran has no weapons of mass destruction.
Bottom line, Republicans won't ever fund alternative energy, but they will quickly send in our soldiers to die for oil. And it doesn't matter how many people get killed.
Keep voting for the Republicans and nothing will change. They want trouble in the Middle East as it drives up the price of their baby, oil.
I have not seen signs of intelligent life any where in the current administration, We have come to believe that everything they say is a lie. The little boy who cried wolf, comes to mind! we can not afford another 4 years of stalemate, Congress needs to answer to the people, we elected them and, we are ignored. they vote the way lobbyists pay them to, and not they way they were elected to do. Government needs to be accountable to we the people, and, liars need to be charged with treason,and laws made to govern everybody And, congress needs two term limits to get the entrenched
A very good "thanks, I needed that" slap. Reagan (who should not be canonized) said "Trust, but verify," without, necessarily, "trust," applies these days. No rush to judgement, folks.
Years ago, I knew an intelligence analyst who worked for the NSA. He told me that he was horrified becuase Reagan used some of his information, from a week before, in a speech. But, this week, they had new information and it completely changed the interpretation of the old information, but it hadn't gotten to Reagan yet.
It si time for the ideologues to udnerstand that we live in a murky world where we try and find out what friends and foes are doing. We can't get inside their heads and we can't see secret verbal orders.
And do not forget, that friends and foes both try to mislead you so that you do not know for sure what is going on.
If you want to know what iran is doing, you need to know how many centrifuges they actually have, what their production and installation rates are.
You may need 3,000 to enrich uranium for a power plant and you might need 30,000 to make weapons grade uranium.
According to the book, "Foxbats over Dimona", Israel assembled two nukes in the days just before the 6-day war.
I'm so glad this "intelligence" about Iran not having nukes came out, as the Bushites were already planning an attack. Many people felt the deja vu of Iraq happening again, but this time, hopefully we will stop their war machinizations before they can destroy any more lives, foreign relations, and/or hurt the US economy any more. Where would be borrow that money from anyway? Halliburton?
If it is WMD you're looking for - we know where we won't find them - Iraq and Iran (though you may find the world's largest oil reserves there). Pakistan was suggested - but we hardly have to go that far - we can look in our own back yard and find WMD - and we can look at Israel and find nuclear weapons. Must be quite a burden to be judge, jury and executione
it is called paradigm paralysis and it is alive and well in america.
want a huge army and be the bully in the world.
there is a price to pay for that.
hows that dollar doing against the euro socialist haters.
please dont go to socialism glen beck wants to keep as much of his millions as possible.
47 million without health care does not phase this self proclaimed man of god or most neo con evangels. his god is his money.
christianty died on the cross.
We could start by acknowledging that Iran has been demonized for no good reason:
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Posted December 5, 2007 | 11:25 AM (EST)